From Awful Announcing:
Of course the ESPN schedule is only through July, and that could change, but prepare yourself for a good number of NL Central games this coming season. Here’s the team breakdown….
Cubs- 12
Cardinals- 11
Mets, Dodgers, Twins, White Sox, Braves- 10
Angels, Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox- 9
Indians- 8
Astros, Tigers, Rays- 6
Giants, Brewers- 5
Rangers, Diamondbacks- 4
A’s, Mariners, O’s- 1
Blue Jays, Marlins, Padres, Nationals, Pirates, Reds, Rockies, Royals- 0
I know people cry East Coast Bias!!!! when the Yankees and Red Sox dominate the prime time schedule. Furthermore, I can understand showing compelling teams like the Cubs and Dodgers more often to diversify the schedule. But having the Twins, White Sox, and Braves have more appearances on the schedule than the Yankees and Red Sox seems like poor business. Those are the teams the fans want to see, as evidenced by their league high drawing power on the road, and it seems silly to me to place other teams in those slots to support some sort of fairness. If fairness were the goal, why not show the Pirates or the Royals? There must be something more going on here, possibly some sort of directive from MLB that the networks show more of the other larger market teams. Whatever the reason, hopefully (for those of us that do not have YES), the second half of the ESPN schedule rectifies the situation.
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3 Responses to Yankees On Prime Time Less Than Twins
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TIQ IQ
If it’s only through July then this makes sense. Why risk showing the Braves and Twins late in the season when they might be out of the playoff hunt. Get their games over with early just in case.
That is fair. Someone mentioned to me yesterday that there may actually be some sort of cap on how many times they can show certain teams over a two season span.
Here’s the problem I have, though. Marlins – 0, Indians – 8. That’s just ridiculous. I don’t know a better way to put it. The Marlins are a half-way decent organization with great young talent. Why not show them occasionally? You could at least show their division games against, say, the Mets or Phillies, so that there is a built-in draw. The Marlins are better than the Indians. They’re approximately as good as the Braves. They’ll be competing with the Braves for second place. The Braves get 10 games on ESPN even though they already have their own national network? Why, ESPN? Why??
I think Nats + Pirates at zero makes sense, but that will change anyway. When the Nats call up Strasburg, that will make ESPN and when the Bucs call up Alvarez, that should make ESPN as well, so both clubs get exactly 1 this season.
Reds and Rockies should be on later this season because both will be somewhere in the vicinity of contention for the Wild Card or the division crown (remember, no one ever wants to win the NL Central), so I’m not going to worry too much about them.
Royals should be at zero, no one cares.
Cubs at 12 is unfathomably high. Like the Braves and TBS, the Cubs have WGN, so why does ESPN insist on showing their games more than anyone else? Is it so we can laugh at the worst defensive outfield in Cub history? God knows.
Okay enough ranting. ESPN isn’t a baseball network and their job is to get ratings, not to appease the baseball fan. I don’t understand how their strategy will help them get ratings, but it is what it is. Via con Dios.